The number of available rooms in U.S. hotels surpassed 5
million for the first time, according to STR.
The company’s most recent hotel census, for June, shows
5,001,163 rooms across 53,554 properties. STR president and COO Amanda Hite said
the growth “reflects continued interest in the sector and its ability to
generate return.”
The industry hit 4.5 million rooms in February 2008. Eclipsing
5 million took 88 months at a growth rate of 5,600 rooms per month. That rate
most closely matches the 84-month cycle from June 1987 to May 1994 when supply
grew from 3 million available rooms to 3.5 million at a growth rate of 5,952
per month.
In its most recent lodging forecast, STR pegged U.S. supply
growth at 1.2 percent for the remainder of 2015 and 1.4 percent for 2016. Both
figures are below the 20-year compound annual growth rate of 1.7 percent, and STR
forecasts that demand growth will outstrip supply growth through 2016. PKF
Hospitality Research's March forecast similarly predicted supply would remain
below historical levels until 2017.
Even still, in a Hotel News Now column last month, STR
senior vice president of lodging insights Jan Freitag said conditions most
closely match the late '90s, when available rooms grew from 3.4 million to 4
million in a record 59 months. He predicts the industry could reach 5.5 million
within seven years.
Year-to-date as of June, the upscale chain segment had seen the
most significant growth, 3.8 percent year over year, according to STR.
Likewise, 66 percent of all U.S. hotel construction over the past two years has
been in the limited-service upscale and upper-midscale segments.